Acts 2:25

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) For David speaketh concerning him.—More accurately, in reference to Him—i.e., in words which extended to Him. Reading Psalms 16 without this interpretation, it seems as if it spoke only of the confidence of the writer that he would be himself delivered from the grave and death. Some interpreters confine that confidence to a temporal deliverance; some extend it to the thought of immortality, or even of a resurrection. But Peter had been taught, both by his Lord and by the Spirit, that all such hopes extend beyond themselves—that the ideal of victory after suffering, no less than that of the righteous sufferer, was realised in Christ. The fact of the Resurrection had given a new meaning to prophecies which would not, of themselves, have suggested it, but which were incomplete without it.

He is on my right hand.—The Psalmist thought of the Eternal as the warrior thinks of him who, in the conflict of battle, extends his shield over the comrade who is on the left hand, and so guards him from attack. When the Son of Man is said to sit on the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1; Matthew 26:64) the imagery is different, and brings before us the picture of a king seated on his throne with his heir sitting in the place of honour by his side.

Benson Commentary

Acts 2:25-28. For David speaketh concerning him — Namely, Psalm 16:8-11, where see the notes. I foresaw the Lord always before my face — In the Psalm, according to the Hebrew, it is, I have set the Lord always before me. Our Lord Jesus had a constant regard to his Father in his whole undertaking. He set his Father’s glory before him as his end, and his Father’s will as his rule, in every part of it. And he foresaw that his sufferings would redound abundantly to the honour of God, and would issue in his own everlasting joy and felicity. These things were set before him, and these he had an eye to in all he did and suffered; and with the prospect of these, he was supported and carried on. He is on my right hand — The instrument of action, strengthening, upholding, and guiding it; that I should not be moved — Shaken in, or driven from, my undertaking, by the hardships I must undergo. Therefore, &c. — On account of the firm confidence I had in him, that I should be supported in, and carried through all my labours and sufferings, and that they should have a glorious issue; my heart rejoiced in the midst of them; and my tongue was glad — Praised God in a joyful manner. In the Psalm it is, My glory rejoiceth: for our tongue is our glory; the faculty of speech is an honour to us; and never more so than when it is employed in praising God. Moreover my flesh shall rest in hope — The grave shall be to my body a bed of repose, and I shall cheerfully deliver it up to be laid there, in hope of a blessed resurrection. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell — Εις αδου, in the invisible world. For it does not appear that ever our Lord’s soul went into what we call hell. On the contrary, when it was separated from the body, it went to paradise, Luke 23:43. The meaning is, Thou wilt not leave my soul in its state of separation from the body, nor suffer my body to be corrupted. See note on Psalm 16:10. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life — To which thou wilt assuredly conduct me; and after all my sufferings here, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance — With manifestations of thy love and favour, in those upper and more glorious regions to which thou wilt raise me.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:22-36 From this gift of the Holy Ghost, Peter preaches unto them Jesus: and here is the history of Christ. Here is an account of his death and sufferings, which they witnessed but a few weeks before. His death is considered as God's act; and of wonderful grace and wisdom. Thus Divine justice must be satisfied, God and man brought together again, and Christ himself glorified, according to an eternal counsel, which could not be altered. And as the people's act; in them it was an act of awful sin and folly. Christ's resurrection did away the reproach of his death; Peter speaks largely upon this. Christ was God's Holy One, sanctified and set apart to his service in the work of redemption. His death and sufferings should be, not to him only, but to all his, the entrance to a blessed life for evermore. This event had taken place as foretold, and the apostles were witnesses. Nor did the resurrection rest upon this alone; Christ had poured upon his disciples the miraculous gifts and Divine influences, of which they witnessed the effects. Through the Saviour, the ways of life are made known; and we are encouraged to expect God's presence, and his favour for evermore. All this springs from assured belief that Jesus is the Lord, and the anointed Saviour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For Daniel speaketh ... - This doctrine that the Messiah must rise from the dead Peter proceeds to prove by a quotation from the Old Testament. This passage is taken from Psalm 16:8-11. It is made from the Greek version of the Septuagint, with only one slight and unimportant change. Nor is there any material change, as will be seen, from the Hebrew. In what sense this Psalm can be applied to Christ will be seen after we have examined the expressions which Peter alleges.

I foresaw the Lord - This is an unhappy translation. To foresee the Lord always before us conveys no idea, though it may be a literal translation of the passage. The word means "to foresee," and then "to see before us," that is, "as present with us, to regard as being near." It thus implies "to put confidence in one; to rely on him, or expect assistance from him." This is its meaning here. The Hebrew is, "I expected, or waited for." It thus expresses the petition of one who is helpless and dependent, who waits for help from God. It is often thus used in the Old Testament.

Always before my face - As being always present to help me, and to deliver me out of all my troubles.

He is on my right hand - To be at hand is to be near to afford help. The right hand is mentioned because that was the place of dignity and honor. David did not design simply to say that he was near to help him, but that he had the place of honor, the highest place in his affections, Psalm 109:31. In our dependence on God we should exalt him. We should not merely regard him as our help, but should at the same time give him the highest place in our affections.

That I should not be moved - That is, that no great evil or calamity should happen to me; that I may stand firm. The phrase denotes "to sink into calamities, or to fall into the power of enemies," Psalm 62:2, Psalm 62:6; Psalm 46:6. This expresses the confidence of one who is in danger of great calamities, and who puts his trust in the help of God alone.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. was not possible he should be holden of it—Glorious saying! It was indeed impossible that "the Living One" should remain "among the dead" (Lu 24:5); but here, the impossibility seems to refer to the prophetic assurance that He should not see corruption.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

David speaketh concerning him, Psalm 16:8.

I foresaw the Lord always before my face: in the psalm it is, I have set the Lord: the apostle following the reading of the Seventy, then in use and known; and to the same sense; for by faith we both see God, and place our confidence in him; David, and especially our Saviour, doing and enduring all things as in the sight of God, whom he knew to be both careful of him, and ready to help him. Thus, in all troubles, there is no such approved comfort, as the seeing or acknowledging the will of God concerning them, his power to preserve us under them, and his promises to deliver us from them. Christ, and all that are Christ’s, do conflict under the eye and in the sight of God, as soldiers whilst their general looks on.

On my right hand; the place of the advocate for one that is accused or endangered.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For David speaketh concerning him,.... The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Psalm 16:8. The whole psalm belongs to the Messiah, and everything concerning the person in it agrees with him; such as his trust in God, Psalm 16:1 as he was man and Mediator; his very great regard to the saints, and delight in them, Psalm 16:2 his disregard to others who were hastening after another God, or another Saviour, whose sacrifices, as an high priest, he would not offer up, nor make intercession for them, Psalm 16:4 his exceeding great satisfaction in having the God of Israel for his portion, and in having his lot cast among his peculiar people, who were a delightful inheritance to him, Psalm 16:5 his thankfulness for advice and direction in the time of his sorrows and sufferings; and his dependence on the almighty power of God to support and protect him, Psalm 16:7 and the joy and comfort he was filled with in the view of his resurrection from the dead, and his enjoyment of the heavenly glory, Psalm 16:9,

I foresaw the Lord always before my face; Christ always had Jehovah in view throughout the whole of his life; and in his last moments he had respect unto the glory of his perfections, as the ultimate end of his obedience and sufferings; and to his purposes, council, and covenant, which were to be accomplished by him; and to his will and command in preaching the Gospel, working miracles, going about to do good, in obeying the precept, and bearing the penalty of the law; as well as to his promises, and his power to assist, support, and preserve him, as man and Mediator:

for he is on my right hand; which expresses his nearness to him, his presence with him, his readiness to assist him, and his protection of him; as if he was his second that stood by him, to take his part, and, if need be, to take up his cause, and defend him from his enemies; see Psalm 109:31.

that I should not be moved; from his station, place, and duty; from the cause he was engaged in, so as to relinquish it; or with the fear of men, or fury of devils, or wrath of God, whilst he was doing and suffering, according to the will of God.

Geneva Study Bible

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 2:25. Εἰς αὐτόν] so that the words, as respects their fulfilment, apply to Him. See Bernhardy, p. 220.

The passage is from Psalm 16:8 ff., exactly after the LXX. David, if the Psalm, which yet certainly is later, belonged to him, or the other suffering theocrat who here speaks, is, in what he affirms of himself, a prophetic type of the Messiah; what he says of the certainty that he should not succumb to the danger of death, which threatened him, has received its antitypical fulfilment in Christ by His resurrection from the dead. This historical Messianic fulfillment of the Psalm justified the apostle in its Messianic interpretation, in which he has on his side not rabbinical predecessors (see Schoettgen), but the Apostle Paul (Acts 13:35 f.). The προωρώμην κ.τ.λ., as the LXX. translates שִׁוּיחִי, is, according to this ideal Messianic understanding of the Psalm, Christ’s joyful expression of His continued fellowship with God on earth, since in fact (ὅτι) God is by His side protecting and preserving Him; I foresaw the Lord before my face always, i.e. looking before me with the mind’s glance (Xen. Hell. iv. 3. 16; otherwise, Acts 21:9), I saw Jehovah always before my face.

ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἐστίν] namely, as protector and helper, as παραστάτης (Xen. Cyr. iii. 3, 21). Concerning ἐκ δεξιῶν, from the right side out, i.e. on the right of it, see Winer, p. 344 [E. T. 459]. The figurative element of the expression is borrowed from courts of justice, where the advocates stood at the right of their clients, Psalm 109:31.

ἵνα μὴ σαλευθῶ] without figure: that I may remain unmoved in the state of my salvation. On the figurative use—frequent also in the LXX., Apocr., and Greek authors (Dorville, ad Char. p. 307)—of σαλεύειν, comp. 2 Thessalonians 2:2.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 2:25. Δαυεὶδ γὰρ λέγει: the words which follow are quoted by St. Peter from Psalms 16; and it has been said that the Apostle’s argument would be the same if the Psalm were the work of some other author than David. But if the following Psalm and the Psalm in question may with considerable reason be attributed to the same author, and if the former Psalm, the seventeenth, may be referred to the period of David’s persecution by Saul, then David’s authorship of Psalm sixteen becomes increasingly probable (Kirkpatrick). In Delitzsch’s view whatever can mark a Psalm as Davidic we actually find combined here, e.g., coincidences of many kinds which he regards as undoubtedly Davidic (cf. Acts 5:5 with Acts 11:6, Acts 5:10 with Acts 4:4, Acts 5:11 with Acts 17:15), and he sees no reason for giving up the testimony afforded by the title. But it is plain that David’s experience did not exhaust the meaning of the Psalm, and St. Peter in the fulness of the gift of Pentecost interprets the words εἰς αὐτὸν, “with reference to Him,” i.e., the Messiah (cf. St. Paul’s interpretation of the same Psalm in Acts 13:35). On the application of the Psalm as Messianic, cf. Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, ii., p. 717.—Προωρώμην: not “I foresaw,” but “I beheld the Lord always before my face,” LXX; Heb., “I have set the Lord always before me”.—Κύριον = Jehovah.—ἐκ δεξιῶν μου: as a defence and helper. Cf. παραστάτης, Xen., Cyr., iii., 3, 21. The imagery may be taken from that of the trials in which advocates stood at the right hand of their clients (Psalm 109:31), or there may be a reference to a champion who, in defending another, would stand on his right hand; cf. Psalm 110:5; Psalm 121:5 (Kirkpatrick, and Robertson Smith, Expositor, 1876, p. 351).—ἵνα μὴ σαλευθῶ: although the verses which follow contain the chief Messianic references in St. Peter’s interpretation, yet in the fullest sense of the words the Christ could say προωρ. κ.τ.λ. (see Felten, in loco). But because the Father was with Him, He could add διὰ τοῦτο εὐφράνθη ἡ καρδία μου: “the heart” in O.T. is not only the heart of the affections, but the centre of the man’s whole moral and intellectual nature (Oehler, Theol. des A.T., p. 71).—εὐφράνθη refers rather to a joyous state of mind, “was glad,” R.V., ἠγαλλιάσατο used of outward and active expression of joy is rendered “rejoiced,” R.V. (in A.V. the meaning of the two verbs is transposed). At the same time εὐφράνθη is sometimes used in LXX and N.T., as in modern Greek of festive enjoyment, Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek, p. 155.—ἡ γλῶσσά μου: in Hebrew כְּבוֹדִי “my glory,” i.e., my soul, my spirit (cf. Genesis 49:6, Schöttgen). The Arabs use a similar expression for the eye, the hand, or any member of the body held in special honour (cf. Lumby on Psalm 108:1).—ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ σάρξ: flesh does not here mean the dead corpse but the living body (Perowne, Kirkpatrick).—κατασκηνώσει, “shall dwell in safety,” R.V., “confidently,” margin (O.T.); the expression is used frequently of dwelling safely in the Promised Land. In N.T. the R.V. translates “shall dwell,” “tabernacle” margin, shall dwell as in a tent, a temporary abode. In its literal meaning, therefore, there is no reference to the rest of the body in the grave, or to the hope of resurrection from the grave, but the words must be understood of this life (Perowne); cf. Deuteronomy 33:12; Deuteronomy 33:28, Psalm 4:8; Psalm 25:13, Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16. For the hope of the Psalmist, expressed in the following words, is primarily for preservation from death: “Thou wilt not give up my soul to Sheol [i.e., to the underworld, so that one becomes its prey], neither wilt thou suffer thy beloved one [singular] to see the pit” (so Delitzsch and Perowne, as also R. Smith and Kirkpatrick).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. For David speaketh concerning him] The passage which St Peter quotes is from Psalm 16:8-11, and he argues that it could not be of himself that the Psalmist there spake, for they had evidence that the words could not be truly said of him; but that having regard to God’s promise he spake of Him who was to be born from his line, as identified with himself. St Peter’s quotation is from the LXX.

I foresaw] The Hebrew has, I set. Foresaw is here used as = saw.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 2:25. Εἰς αὐτὸν, in reference to Him) viz. to Christ.—προωρώμην—εἰς ᾅδου—ἐγνώρισάς μοι, κ.τ.λ.) Psalm 16:8-11, where the LXX. have, προωρώμην—εἰς ᾅδην—ἐγνώρισάς μοι, κ.τ.λ.—προωρώμην, I foresaw, or I saw the Lord before me) This very sentiment is expressed a little before in the same psalm, Acts 2:2, thus, My goodness in comparison of, or beside Thee, [implying a continual seeing of the Lord as present before him] is nothing (has no existence).—ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἐστὶν, He is on my right hand) to protect me.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - Saith for speaketh, A.V.; he held for foresaw, A.V. The sixteenth psalm is ascribed to David in the title prefixed to it in the Hebrew and the LXX. Without pronouncing the titles to be infallible, we must confess that they carry great weight with them in the absence of any strong internal evidence against them. Meyer speaks of the psalm as "certainly later than David," and Ewald and others ascribe it to the time of the Captivity; but Hitzig thinks the internal evidence is in favor of its belonging to the time before David ascended the throne ('Speaker's Commentary'). We may safely rest on the authority of St. Peter here and St. Paul (Acts 13:35, 36), and be satisfied that it is really David's. The manner in which it is quoted by the two apostles is also very strong evidence that by the Jews of that day it was generally admitted to be a Messianic psalm. The following quotation is verbatim from the LXX. Acts 2:25

Vincent's Word Studies

I foresaw (προωρώμην)

Not to see beforehand, but to see before one's self, as in Psalm 16:8.

I should not be moved (μὴ σαλευθῶ)

Or be shaken. Generally so rendered in the New Testament. See Matthew 11:7; Matthew 24:29; Hebrews 12:26, etc.